Pretty cool

[Rand]

http://wimp.com/dolphinbubbles

[LCHIEN]

that is truly amazing. I'd say it was related to the kind of vortex rings we can shoot out like smoke rings... when fired from a vortex gun the invisible ring of air travels ins straight line with a great deal of coherence, where it stays together rather than dissipating. Using smoke in the vortexx you can view them. Vortex rings have been hypothesized as possible weapons to knock plane out of the air - you can buy to guns to blow out candles from across the room. Its a slightly abstract scientific phenomena that has been discovered and man finds it amusing and possibly useful.

Now seeing dolphins emitting and controlling these rings which apparently have similar properties in water is really fasciniating. One because its a phenomena most humans aren't even aware of (I wonder if any scientists have tried creating vortex rings underwater?). And two because it tells me that dolphins must be hgely intelligent creatures. Sure they learn and memorize things and can communicate, but this tells me they have scientific curiosity on a par with humans. Of all the animals very few can claim to be fascinated with playing and experimenting with unusual scientific phenomena. They've clearly discovered it, they are teaching it to each other and showing off in front of humans. And doing some intersting things with it - like distorting the rings by swirling the surrounding water and even swallowing them.

[crybdr]

Fascinating video - thanks for posting!

[sparkeyjames]

Another interesting thing that dolphins do with bubbles in the wild is to build a circular bubble curtain around a school of prey fish. Getting the fish to school tighter and tighter and closer to the surface till it is easy for the dolphins to charge into the school and have a greater chance of catching fish. Whats even more interesting is that the dolphins in a pod hunting this way take turns doing different tasks. Some as bubble blowers some that patrol the bottom exit to keep fish from escaping downward and feeders. There must be some incredible communication going on to do something like this. Saw a film of this once and it is truly fascinating.

[jussi]

And two because it tells me that dolphins must be hgely intelligent creatures. . .

Does this mean we might see Planet of the Dolphins ?? We saw what those Apes did.

[MikeMorgan]

Why don't the rings float to the top?

Thanks for posting the fascinating video. Can someone explain to me why the rings don't float to the top like normal bubbles?

[crybdr]

turbulent fluid.....

Why don't the bubbles float to the top?

My guess is that there is a tremendous amount of turbulent flow (the water is creating the vortex) capturing the air and shaping it into a ring. We can't see the turbulence in the water but the behavior of the air reveals it very clearly. It's a pretty neat phenomenon.

[LCHIEN]

Thanks for posting the fascinating video. Can someone explain to me why the rings don't float to the top like normal bubbles?

Its like why does a rising fast ball not fall to the ground.
The force of buoyancy is exceeded by the forces pushing the bubbles in a straight line and the spinning vortex creates some probably both strong lift and down forces countering the rising bouyancy by a great margin.